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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

More of our visit to the QAG and GoMA...and that Giveaway...

Firstly, if you are visiting for the Grow Your Own Blog Party, that post is here...

Following on from yesterday's post about the California Design exhibition at the QAG, in this post I will show the photos that I took at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) of the works of Cai Guo-Qiang. As my friends and I walked up the slight incline to the gallery where 'Heritage ' was displayed, we had no idea just what an amazing sight would greet us...


I can remember breathing out the word 'Wow!' as I took my first look at this installation...The brochure which was handed to us with our tickets informed us that there were 99 animals from all around the world...we made our way slowly around the exhibit looking from all different vantage points...
The reflections were magnificent...
 The animals looked so realistic...


 The giraffe bending down to drink and splaying out her front legs...
The waterhole was surrounded by fine sand, and any sand that 'escaped' from the scene was deftly swept back by the attendants...




In the next photo there is a baboon mother with a baby on her back...
 Another view of mummy baboon and baby

There was water which dripped every now and then from a point in the ceiling...this caused the water in the waterhole to ripple and move....
We then moved on to Cai's next installation...Eucalyptus. This was a massive native eucalyptus tree that was removed from a development site...Cai turned it into a work of art. It was huge; apparently windows were removed from the gallery and the tree was brought in through there, in 3 pieces, and then reassembled!





We then went into the area where Cai's Tea Pavillion was displayed but I find that I didn't take any photos there...then we moved to Head On...another awe inspiring exhibit!

My first view of Head On...there are 99 wolves running towards a glass barrier...they hit the barrier, fall back to earth and start moving back to the beginning...

Again we walked around the exhibit quite awe-struck at the sheer size of the installation......
 I liked the face of the wolf below...

The glass barrier at the end there; the artist says that invisible barriers can be 'the hardest walls to destroy'.

 A panorama view of Head On with my friend Jane's head in the side of the shot...

There is a large area where children can take part in activities related to Cai Guo-Qiang's works...there is a long set of shelves displaying the children's work...

 After that, we went upstairs to the Cathy Temin exhibit, My Monument; White Forest...another magical 'world' filled with soft furry shapes...


While upstairs we also visited the gallery with Bea Maddock's work, Terra Spiritus. Again I didn't take photos mainly this time because photos wouldn't do her work justice. Put in simple terms, this work mapped out the topography of the Tasmanian Coastline, and stretched around 3 walls of this gallery space. Bea used ochre as her paints...each section of the mural featured the European names of the landmarks as well as the Aboriginal names...
We also visited a number of other exhibits as there is plenty to see in a visit to GoMA. And I mustn't forget to mention the sculpture which is permanently on display beside the river...

It's an elephant standing on its head....
 And he has a little companion...

 A closer look...my friends said it was a rat although the tail looks a bit grand for a rat...hmmm.

I'm really proud of Queensland's cultural scene found in these galleries...well worth a visit. Cai Guo-Qiang's works are on display until May 11.
The Giveaway
If you haven't left a comment on the previous post to be in the draw for the Giveaway for 800+ blog posts, visit here to check it out.

3 comments:

Nicky said...

Amazing! That is a stunning exhibition.

Nanette said...

Wow! is right. What are all the animals made from Maria...sorry if you explained this somewhere else. I'm tempted tog et on the train and come see it all for myself.

Vireya said...

Fascinating!

I was also wondering what the animals are made of - I checked the gallery website but didn't see that info there, either.